Scholars say the civil rights leader would be an active participant in current political and social debates

Martin Luther King Jr. vividly impressed Robert Watson. The Hampton University professor recalls meeting King as a student in 1968, when the civil rights icon visited Caldwell's school, Tougaloo College in Mississippi.

"What impressed me was not so much his talking about what he was doing," Watson said of King's visit to the men's dormitory at the college. "The man was a good pool shooter."

King discovered the dorm had a pool table in its basement lounge and he "took on anyone who wanted to play." Watson was among the students who accepted the challenge.

Watson found other connections to King: they belonged to the same fraternity and King, too, was a scholar and writer. But what most resonated, and what he shares with his HU students, was King's dedication to justice and his willingness to stand up to discrimination across racial, economic and social lines.

If King came back

"He made a difference at a time when we needed someone willing to step up and put belief over laws," Watson said in his university office. "The fact that he believed in disobeying unjust laws was a good thing."

That pushback against injustice also impressed Earl Caldwell, a former New York Times reporter who covered King in the 1960s. Now an instructor and writer at Hampton University, Caldwell noted, "King broke laws because they were wrong, but he knew the consequences of that."

Watson, Caldwell and other scholars, including Norfolk State University professor and history department chairman Charles Ford, say King would be a strong voice in today's political debates. He would have opposed the Afghanistan war, both professors said. King was a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War, Watson noted.

"King saw the war as driving resources away from the war on poverty," Watson said.

And King would be working on immigration reform and pushing back against efforts to change and potentially cut back Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, said Watson.

"As a minister, that was part of his mission," Watson said. Ford agreed, saying King's goals were grounded in "basic Christian principles put into practice."

Caldwell said King's last campaign was to assist poor people. He said King had a vision beyond passage of the Civil Rights Act, which he called King's "last major victory, and the Voting Rights Act, two landmark laws of empowerment."

"He wanted to go to Washington to fight for a job or an income for everyone," Caldwell said. "A job was the most crucial thing."

In fact, Ford believes King would be pushing for more focus on supporting poor people, minorities, immigrants, the disabled and the elderly.

"If King came back, he would call for a new 'New Deal' or a new 'Great Society,'" Ford said, referring to programs established by Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. "The idea that people can do no wrong, that government is the problem not the solution.… I think King would certainly be a strong voice against that.

"The idea that markets are more important than the government, he would be against that, too."

"A catalyst and a touchstone"

And his voice would be heard, the scholars maintained. King had a gift for distilling his message in ways that reached a wide audience. College of William and Mary Professor Lynn Weiss called King's "I Have a Dream" speech, which the civil rights leader delivered 50 years ago, "one of a handful in our history that functioned as both a catalyst and a touchstone."

Weiss said King's genius with the speech was his ability, like that of Abraham Lincoln, to use "figurative language in which every American is fluent."

"It stated: this is who we are; this is what it all means; this is what it costs; this is why it matters," she said.

Asked what they believed King would say about the causes in which he believed, were he alive today, the scholars offered several thoughts.

"I think Dr. King would say we have made tremendous progress, especially in terms of civil rights," Watson said. The HU professor said King would be pleased to see African-Americans involved in politics and the private sector. Ford noted that opportunities have increased, but he said those most able to take advantage of them were the black upper and middle class, and those who were "the wealthiest and the best educated."

Asked if King was "color blind," Watson said, "I think Dr. King was very conscious of color. … He said he knew it would not happen in his lifetime, but we have made a lot of progress since 1963 toward overcoming discrimination based on pigmentation."

Making great strides

Caldwell said King likely would be pleased to see those he championed not only involved in voting, but also in campaigning and running for office.

"On balance, I think King would say we have made great strides since he left us," Caldwell said.